The present invention relates to a substrate assembly for supporting an optical component and a method of producing the same.
In recent years, with the development of information communication techniques represented by the Internet and a great improvement in the processing speed of information processing systems, the needs to send and receive high volume data such as images are increasing. In order to send and receive such high volume data freely through information communication facilities, an information transmission speed of 10 Gbps or larger is desirable. Optical communication techniques are greatly expected as the techniques to realize a high-speed telecommunication environment. In the meantime, it is desired to transmit signals at high speed through relatively short signal transmission paths such as connecting paths between circuit boards in systems, connecting paths between semiconductor chips of circuit boards and connecting paths in semiconductor chips. To this end, it is considered ideal to shift from transmission using metal cables and wirings, which has generally been used, to optical transmission using optical fibers and waveguides.
Circuit boards mounting thereon optical devices and adapted to make optical communication between the optical device and an optical fiber or optical waveguide have been proposed as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 2002-236228 and 8-250542. Disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent publications is such a technique that an external substrate mounting thereon an optical device can be positioned in place on a circuit board by a self-alignment effect attained at the time solder bumps for connection between the external substrate and the circuit board are reflowed. Furthermore, as a unit to connect optical fibers each other, a device called an optical fiber connector has been proposed as disclosed in Fujikura Technical Review No. 97, October, 1999.